Comments on: The Origin of Syphilis https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/ Mon, 24 May 2021 14:55:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: John https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-555658 Thu, 30 Nov 2017 23:28:42 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-555658 In reply to chezjake.

This is a very good question. If Syphilis originated in the New World where did it come from? Molecular biology not so good on treponemes so far because you can’t culture them.
Yaws is the answer. Out of Africa. Found in the rain forest. Primates get infected with it.. Carried with poverty and close contact across the Bering Land Bridge.
About the time of the conquistadores virulent mutation occured. 1493…Barcelona
1494 Milan. 1499 in Venice and Scotland. Fast I know, but think of Smallpox and Measles on the other end.
It did not arise in the Girl from Treponema

]]> By: chamberino sam https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-550725 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:56:40 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-550725 There once was a Conquistador named Bruno,
Who said of sex I do know,
A woman is fine,
A boy os divine,
But a llama is numero uno.

]]> By: swapnakaj https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2835 Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:56:17 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2835 A good and informative blog, describing everything about the origin of syphilis.

]]> By: Ian https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2834 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:03:36 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2834 And here we thought it was spread by The Girl From Treponema:Tall and tan and young and lovelyThe girl from Treponema goes lovingAnd when she loves, each one she loves goes “Ouch!”….

]]> By: the real cmf https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2833 Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:16:05 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2833 sure, this all sounds nice and sciebntific, but we all know that true origins were with that coke dealer who always sits at the end of the bar, and wears ‘cool’ hats so nobody knows he is going bald….that other theory, the one about the ‘town pump’ is soooooo debunked by now.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2832 Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:02:01 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2832 Jim: There are plenty of New World zoonotic diseases. Among the more icky ones are Bolivian Hemorrhagic Fever, Guanarito virus, Argentine hemorrhagic fever, possibly some versions of the Hanta virus, and possibly Yellow Fever. Most of these have rodent reservoirs.

]]> By: chezjake https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2831 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:51:28 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2831 So, if yaws is the older disease (Wikipedia says it’s been around for 1.5 million years, and clearly it could leave skeletal evidence.), where did it originate? Has it been universal in the tropics since ancient times, or did it too originate in the new world? Seems to me that this could provide significant evidence on the origins of syphilis.

]]> By: Jim Thomerson https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2830 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:38:47 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/01/14/the-origin-of-syphilis/#comment-2830 One story is that syphillis transferred from llamas to humans in the new world. If so, does that make it the only animal-origin human disease to originate in the New World? A side story: a colleague traveling in the coastal desert of Venezuela encountered a government team who were shooting wild donkeys. The young lady in charge of the team told him they were being destroyed because they were a reservoir for syphillis.

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